Making Sense of Memorable Messages About Infertility: Examining Message Valence by Theme and Sender

ABSTRACT

Fertility problems, often called infertility, have been defined as the inability to conceive or maintain pregnancy throughout one year of trying (World Health Organization, 2020). Because fertility problems can present unique medical, emotional, relational, and identity challenges, they are often difficult to talk about, and even well-intentioned messages can be perceived negatively. This study uses Communicated Sense-Making (CSM; Kellas & Kranstuber Horstman, 2015), particularly its mechanism of memorable messages, to explore what types of support-related messages people experiencing infertility find memorable. Results from semi-structured interviews (N = 54) indicate five supra-themes of memorable messages: (a) communicating solidarity; (b) attempting to minimize participants’ stress; (c) communicating investment or interest in the patient’s experience; (d) sharing expertise; and (e) absolving the patient of responsibility; we identify several sub-themes within each. We also explore patterns between message types, senders, and message valence: message themes were perceived as either positive, negative, or neutral based on the combination of sender and perceived intention. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. This clinical definition of infertility by the WHO assumes a cisgender identity (i.e., one’s gender matching one’s sex at birth) and a heterosexual relationship (i.e., unprotected sex as the only way to conceive). Reproductive health needs are experienced by patients with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations, thus we often refer to infertility as “fertility problems” to be more inclusive of these experiences (Bute, 2009; Palmer-Wackerly et al., 2022).

2. A separate data set from the present study has been published (Palmer-Wackerly et al., 2022).

3. Participants could select more than one racial/ethnic background.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.